Drug discovery and development from its very onset up to market approval is a long process lasting 10-15 years. New research tools are needed to accelerate and rationalize this process. Ocular drug research still relies heavily on animal testing with rabbits and other rodents. Computational methods and cell culture models are promising tools for early pharmacokinetic studies and may partly replace the animals in pharmacokinetic and toxicological studies. Computational methods are initially based on experimental data, but thereafter their application is straightforward and they can be used to reduce, partly replace and refine further experimental studies. Similarly, cell culture models may enable absorption and toxicity testing of drug candidates with continuously growing cells of human origin, and thereby reduce the need for animal experiments.
The cornea is the main route of ocular drug absorption after topical administration, and the corneal epithelium is the most important barrier to drug permeation. Membrane transporter proteins play an important role in the general pharmacokinetics and toxicology. However, their role in ocular pharmacokinetics is still poorly understood. Based on literature analysis many ocular drugs seem to be substrates of transporters, but the expression of these proteins in the eye is largely unknown.
The goal of this work was to develop and evaluate cellular and computational tools for ocular pharmacokinetics and toxicology, and to characterise the active drug transporters in the corneal epithelium. The expression of monocarboxylate transporters and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) class efflux proteins was studied in the corneal epithelium and human corneal epithelial (HCE) cell model. Human corneal epithelium expressed monocarboxylate transporters 1 and 4 (MCT1 and MCT4), efflux transporters multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 and 5 (MRP1 and MRP5), and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). Cultured human corneal epithelial cells over-expressed several ABC class efflux proteins and MCT1 and MCT4. The functionality of efflux and monocarboxylate transport was demonstrated in HCE cells and in the rabbit cornea ex vivo.
The MTT test is a widely used cytotoxicity test in cell research. It was demonstrated that substrates and inhibitors of ABC class efflux proteins may interfere with the MTT test, presumably by inhibiting dye efflux from the cells. This may lead to an underestimation of toxicity in the MTT test.
Quantitative structure property relationship (QSPR) models are commonly used in early drug discovery to predict ADME properties of novel compounds. Multivariate analysis was used to develop QSPR models for in silico prediction of the corneal permeability. Two factors, the distribution coefficient (logD7.4 /logD8.0) and hydrogen binding potential, were shown to be the parameters that determine the transcorneal permeability of a compound. These models were able to predict intracameral steady state drug concentrations in rabbit eyes.
In conclusion, the new in silico QSPR model can make reliable predictions for passive drug permeability in the cornea, while the HCE model seems to over-express some membrane transporters as compared to the normal human corneal epithelium. Even if these investigated methods have some restrictions they are still very useful tools for drug discovery purposes.